G is for Gavin on Sesame Street

Brantford’s own GAVIN HOYLE can: you have to be unpretentious, have an outgoing personality and be cute as a button!

The six-year-old was featured with a speaking part in the season premiere of the iconic kids show that’s seen by millions upon millions of children in dozens of countries.

You can catch a rerun of the episode on Dec. 26 at 10 a.m.

Gavin has no clue of the breadth of his accomplishment.

"There were SO many kids at the audition and you never really expect that your child could be on Sesame Street," says Gavin’s proud mom, AMANDA HOYLE, who grew up watching the show.

Gavin’s part is about things that start with W and, at the time it was shot, he was only 5 1/2. He and another child were put against a grey floor and background and told to imagine all sorts of things that start with W. Those items were animated later into the scene.

"They had no props – just the director telling them what to do. The director said the hardest scene was the one where Gavin is putting a watermelon into a wagon. It just melted my heart to hear him talking!"

Sesame Street isn’t the youngster’s first gig. He’s done some modelling for print ads, a commercial for chicken sausages and appeared in a TV movie and an Animal Planet episode, where he was joined by his little sister, Carys Hoyle.

Amanda says she started auditioning Gavin for commercials because of his outgoing personality. And, so far, he loves it.

"Before he was three years old he would be reciting dialogue from children’s movies in his car seat. He loves acting and is excited about going to auditions."

So far, the lad doesn’t realize that he’s competing for jobs.

"I don’t tell him it’s an audition. I just tell him to go and have fun because he doesn’t have to know it’s a competition."

That’s especially important as Amanda and her husband, MIKE HOYLE, see the "Toddlers and Tiaras-type" parents who are living vicariously through their tikes.

"The second he doesn’t enjoy it, I’ll pull him out. But, meanwhile, it will make a bit of money for school down the road."

Gavin got his first real thrill when a classmate told him, "If I don’t see you at recess, I’ll see you on TV!" And he was really jazzed when his principal mentioned his success in the school newsletter.

* * *

Forget the IKEA MONKEY – Brantford has the MALL HORSE!

At the same time as the well-dressed primate was capturing the world’s interest, a small group of people was trying to talk a horse into an elevator at the city’s downtown mall.

Oh, and a donkey named BUNNY, too.

This is what happened.

On Sunday night, the weather, which had mainly co-operated for the outdoor performances of the Living Nativity for two nights, completely went off the rails.

Rain – maybe hail – and bitter cold left organizers wondering whether to cancel the final shows. But the group, from Freedom House, decided to move everything into the church quarters in the Market Square Mall.

What to do about SUNDANCE, the horse, and Bunny, the donkey – who were both integral parts of the play?

Well, the mall has a loading dock and the loading dock leads to a freight elevator and that leads to the concourse, which goes to the church.

"It was awesome!" says Freedom House’s DAVE CARROL.

"They was absolutely no problem."

Downtown denizens who were a bit startled to see a centurion riding the horse along Dalhousie to get him accustomed to his role each night must have been really surprised to see the pre-show ride taking place in the mall.

KURTIS MILLER, who was playing the centurion, was well acquainted with the horse, which was on loan from Circle Square Ranch.

"He rode the horse through the church, made his pronouncement and then they rode out," says Dave. "The horse even came back for the curtain call."

And the crowd, which organizers worried would be washed away by the rain, was actually a good size.

And what about the delicate question of horse or donkey, uh, "accidents?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny the bowel movements of the animals but nothing happened in the church," says Dave.

The quick-witted SEAN ALLEN immortalized the event by swiftly creating a Twitter account for @MallHorse but, sadly, it didn’t have the same cachet as @IkeaMonkey. Probably the lack of a stylish coat.

* * *

You heard it here first: the world’s next computer whiz is living happily in Brantford and saving his pennies for hardware.

NOAH DARGIE may be just 12, but he’s already got a successful Apple app that’s been downloaded 1,500 times.

"He lives, breathes and sleeps computer stuff," says his mom, ROBYN DARGIE. "He and my dad can carry on entire conversations that are all Greek to me. Neither his dad nor I are that way."

But Noah’s grandad, TOM KERBY, is a former IT guy in the news business so it’s no surprise that bits and bytes run in Noah’s blood.

"I started out interested in computers and wanting to find out how to make things like programs and software," says the kid. "From there I went on to making the software to do things."

Noah’s app is a simple photo program that lets users add an effect to a picture they already have or are about to take.

Since Noah is not yet 13, the app is under his dad’s name – BRETT DARGIE.

"My dad contacted Apple to ask if that was OK."

Meanwhile, Noah fields computer questions from family and friends and tries to help at James Hillier School when he can.

His app is free now but Noah’s getting ready to start charging $1 in January.

"I want to get more advanced and start to make software for Macs instead of just apps."

* * *

If you have news about something funny, interesting or quirky, give Susan Gamble a call at 756-2020, ext. 2233, fax her at 756-9470, email her at susan.gamble@sunmedia.ca or drop a line to Word Has It, 195 Henry St., Brantford, N3S 5C9.<P>